1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for monitoring keyboard input. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for monitoring keyboard input to detect and prevent potential injury.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mobile terminals were developed to provide wireless communication between users. As technology has advanced, mobile terminals now provide many additional features beyond simple telephone conversation. For example, mobile terminals are now able to provide additional functions such as an alarm, a Short Messaging Service (SMS), a Multimedia Message Service (MMS), E-mail, games, remote control of short range communication, an image capturing function using a mounted digital camera, a multimedia function for providing audio and video content, a scheduling function, and many more. With the plurality of features now provided, a mobile terminal has effectively become a necessity of daily life.
For example, mobile phones are now equipped to transmit text messages. Text messaging, or “texting”, has seen explosive growth in the last decade, with over 5.5 trillion short messages (SMS) sent in 2009 and over 6.6 trillion in 2010. The popularity of texting is in particular due to the speed with which users can type and send these short messages. This is especially true of teenage users who have adapted to the small keyboard of mobile phones and use only their thumbs to type messages at incredible speeds. Combined with very low cost messaging fees or SMS packages offering thousands or unlimited messages a month for a fixed fee, texting has become the medium of choice for teenagers. A 2009 study in the US found teens sending an average of 1700 text messages a month, and a more recent report by Nielsen puts it at 10 messages per hour during the day (over 3000 per month).
The overindulgence of texting by teens has exposed the risks of this activity—particularly the repetitive stress caused to the thumbs and wrists. In the US several teens have been diagnosed with thumb injuries due to excessive texting, a condition now being referred to as Teen Texting Tendonitis (TTT). In the United Kingdom, mobile operator Virgin Mobile has recognized this as a serious issue and has gone so far as to set up an informational website to inform users about the dangers of excessive texting. Accordingly, there is a need for an apparatus and method to monitor typing activity in order to warn users of excessive typing.